[The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James]@TWC D-Link bookThe Portrait of a Lady CHAPTER III 12/19
She has probably gone to look for you and is wandering about upstairs; she didn't seem at all intelligent.
You had better tell her it's no matter." And then, since the girl stood there hesitating and wondering, this unexpected critic said to her abruptly: "I suppose you're one of the daughters ?" Isabel thought she had very strange manners.
"It depends upon whose daughters you mean." "The late Mr.Archer's--and my poor sister's." "Ah," said Isabel slowly, "you must be our crazy Aunt Lydia!" "Is that what your father told you to call me? I'm your Aunt Lydia, but I'm not at all crazy: I haven't a delusion! And which of the daughters are you ?" "I'm the youngest of the three, and my name's Isabel." "Yes; the others are Lilian and Edith.
And are you the prettiest ?" "I haven't the least idea," said the girl. "I think you must be." And in this way the aunt and the niece made friends.
The aunt had quarrelled years before with her brother-in-law, after the death of her sister, taking him to task for the manner in which he brought up his three girls.
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